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Rahul Giri
Rahul Giri

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How UI Engineers Can Use AI (GenAI + Agentic) to Work Faster and Smarter

#ai #ui #webdev #frontend

As UI engineers, we spend too much time on repetitive tasks: boilerplate code, API wiring, design handoffs, tests, documentation…

The good news? AI (Generative + Agentic) can take a big chunk of that load if we use it the right way.

1. Use AI to Write Boilerplate Code in Seconds

Instead of building forms, validation, state logic, or layouts from scratch, let AI do it.

Recommended Tools:

Example:

Prompt:

“Generate a React form with TailwindCSS and Zod validation for name, email, and phone fields. Integrate it with React Hook Form.”

AI instantly gives you a working skeleton:

const schema = z.object({ name: z.string(), email: z.string().email(), phone: z.string() });

export default function MyForm() {
  const { register, handleSubmit } = useForm({ resolver: zodResolver(schema) });
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(console.log)} className="space-y-3">
      <input {...register("name")} placeholder="Name" />
      <input {...register("email")} placeholder="Email" />
      <input {...register("phone")} placeholder="Phone" />
      <button type="submit">Submit</button>
    </form>
  );
}
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2. Skip Manual API Integration

Recommended Tools:

Example prompt:

“Read this OpenAPI spec and create a useProductsQuery React hook with React Query. Show me a product grid with skeleton loaders.”

Result: You get data fetching + UI + loading states in one go.

3. AI for Accessibility and Fixing Issues

Recommended Tools:

How:

  1. Run Lighthouse or axe
  2. Paste errors into AI tool: > “Here’s my Lighthouse report. Suggest minimal React code fixes for these ARIA issues.”
  3. AI gives you exact code changes.

4. Turn Figma Designs Into React Code

Recommended Tools:

Pro Tip:

  • Name design system components correctly in Figma (Button, Card, Modal)
  • AI tools will map them automatically to your UI library

5. Use AI for Tests & Edge Cases

Recommended Tools:

Prompt:

“Write Playwright tests for login, search, add-to-cart flows. Include edge cases like network failure and empty API response.”

Result: Complete e2e test scripts ready to run.

6. Set Up AI Agents for Daily Repetitive Work

Recommended Tools:

These agents can chain tasks:

  • Check API changes → update generated clients
  • Run Lighthouse → fix obvious performance issues
  • Update design tokens nightly

7. Auto-Generate Documentation and Changelogs

Recommended Tools:

Prompt:

“Summarize this 200-line PR into 3 bullet points for UI engineers.”

Result: Clean release notes or documentation without manual effort.

8. How to Talk to AI (The Secret Sauce)

AI is only as good as your instructions.
Here’s the formula that works every time:

Context:

“I’m building a Next.js e-commerce app. We use Tailwind + React Query.”

Goal:

“Generate a product listing page with infinite scroll and skeleton loaders.”

Constraints:

“Code must be TypeScript, mobile-first, and reusable components only.”

Step-by-step:

“First generate the data fetching hook, then the UI component.”

💡 Pro tip: Show examples of what you like and don’t like. AI learns faster with references.

9. Guardrails: Don’t Blindly Trust AI

  • Run tests and code reviews
  • Watch for random dependencies
  • Ask AI to explain its output:

“Why did you add this state variable? What happens if I remove it?”

Wrap-Up

  • Build boilerplate in seconds
  • Wire up APIs without headaches
  • Catch accessibility & performance issues early
  • Automate testing, documentation, and releases

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